The present invention relates to a water supply system for supplying water which is used for the purpose of rinsing photosensitive materials treated in developing apparatus.
In general, treatment of photographic films such as development of image or printing of image on print papers is followed by a rinsing step in which the film or the print paper is rinsed by water in a rinsing unit.
Usually, the system for supplying rinsing water to the rinsing unit is designed to replace the used rinsing water with fresh rinsing water at a constant rate or a rate which is determined in accordance with the frequency of use of the rinsing water.
The rinsing water supply system generally employs two pipes connected to the rinsing unit: namely, a water supply pipe through which fresh rinsing water is supplied to a treating tank in the rinsing unit and a draining pipe through which the used water is disposed of. The renewal of the rinsing water in the treating tank is conducted by opening and closing a valve in the water supply pipe as required.
The provision of such pipes, however, inevitably requires a large space for the installation of the rinsing unit and for the piping itself, thus restricting the place where the photographic film treating apparatus is to be situated.
In addition, the known rinsing water supply system does not enable the rate of supply of water to be controlled delicately and, therefore, is not suitable in such cases where the rinsing is to be conducted with a small quantity of rinsing water. Namely, a delicate control of the water supply rate requires, for example, a flow rate control solenoid valve disposed in the water supply pipe and electric wirings for connecting the solenoid valve to the rinsing control section. This is quite inconvenient in that troubles may be caused by wetting of the solenoid valve or the electric wiring by the rinsing water.
Another problem encountered by the conventional water supply system is that, when the used water is to be diluted for the purpose of disposal, it is necessary that the diluting water be charged into the rinsing unit, so that the amount of water in the rinsing unit is increased to cause various inconveniences.